All the passages below are taken from
Mark A. Gabriel’s*
book “Jesus and Muhammad” published in 2004.

As a teenager,
I had a great deal of respect in my community due to memorizing the Quran and
attending Al-Azhar high school. As a result, people often called upon me to pray
for friends or relatives who were sick.

When I visited
someone who was sick, the first thing I would always do is sit next to him or
her and recite from the Quran. I always recited the most well-known verse
concerning healing:

And if Allah touches you with harm, there
is none who can remove it but He, and if He intends any good for you, there is
none who can repel His Favour which He causes it to reach whomsoever of His
slaves He wills.

-SURAH 10:107

By reciting
from the Quran, I hoped to get Allah's attention. Then I prayed: "0 Allah, your
slave is sick. Sickness comes from you, but healing also comes from you. So we
ask your mercy."

I was always a
little bit uncomfortable with doing this. I felt that Allah was very far
away, and I did not know whether he would pay attention to me or not. After all,
the Quran says that no one can intervene to change Allah's intentions:

Say [0 Muhammad]: "Who then has any power
at all (to intervene) on your behalf with Allah, if He intends you hurt or
intends you benefit?"

- SURAH 48:11

Muhammad
himself said that he was unable to influence Allah on his own behalf:

Say (0 Muhammad): I have no power over
any harm or profit to myself except what Allah may will.

-SURAH 10:49 (SEE ALSO SURAH 7:188.)

So I left the
patient each time with no knowledge of whether Allah would acknowledge my
prayer. But I had done what Allah allowed me to do.

Healing and
miracles is an area where the differences between Jesus and Muhammad are most
evident. Before beginning the comparison between Jesus and Muhammad, I would
like to explain why this topic is an area of great debate among Muslims.

THE DEBATE ABOUT
MUHAMMAD AND MIRACLES

Whether
Muhammad performed healings and miracles is a controversial topic among Muslims.
Muslims accept that Jesus performed miracles (as supported by the Quran),
but not everyone agrees on whether Muhammad performed miracles. This is
because of contradictions between the Quran and the hadith (the record of
Muhammad's teachings and actions). Remember that Muhammad had direct
knowledge of what went into the Quran because the Quran is made up strictly of
the revelations that he reported from the angel Gabriel. However, Muhammad did
not have control over hadith. His followers could tell any story they wanted,
whether it was true or not, and Muhammad had no control over it.

The Quran says
Muhammad had no obligation to produce a sign to show that he was a prophet.
Instead, the Quran is presented as the greatest sign of prophethood. Muhammad
was to tell people:

"The signs are only with Allah, and I am
only a plain warner." Is it not sufficient for them that We1
have sent down to you the Book
(the Quran) which is recited to them?

-
SURAH 29:50-51

In other words, Muhammad was to say, "I'm
the prophet. Don't ask me for signs. Signs are for Allah to do." The revelation
concluded, "The Quran is sign enough for you!"

All Muslims agree that the Quran is the
greatest miracle given tohumanity. The Quran declares that no
other human or spirit could create a book to equal it.

Say: "If the mankind and the jinn were
together to produce the like of this Quran, they could nor produce the like
thereof, even if they helped one another."

-
SURAH 17:88

Had We1
sent down this Quran on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling
itself and rent asunder by the fear of Allah.

-SURAH 59:21

That is why reports of miracles in the
hadith raise suspicions regarding their authenticity. Some Muslim scholars
believe that most of these miracle stories were invented by Muhammad's followers
after his death to help convince people that Muhammad was a true prophet.Other Muslims, however, strongly believe that the miracle accounts are
accurate. When I was a child, I believed the stories I was taught. But we
weren't really taught much about Muhammad doing miracles. This topic isn't
emphasized in Islamic teaching.

With this understanding, let's compare
the record regarding miracles for Jesus and Muhammad. For clarity we will divide
the miracles into three categories: healing of physical illness, casting out
demons, and miracles in the natural world. Lastly, we will look at whether Jesus
or Muhammad empowered their followers to perform healings or miracles.

HEALING OF
PHYSICAL ILLNESS

Muhammad

Even in the hadith, there are almost no
stories about Muhammad praying for people to be healed of physical illness. I am
only aware of the following two accounts.

Muhammad and Abu Bakr hid in a cave
during their escape from Mecca to Medina (the second hijra).
One historian says that Abu Bakr was bit by a poisonous snake and began to
suffer from its poison. Muhammad said, "Don't be sad, Abu Bakr, because Allah is
with us." Then Abu Bakr recovered.2
This is a very popular story among Muslims and is often used in sermons,
especially at the annual celebration of hijra. The story was said to be
narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattib based on hearing it from Abu Bakr. Even the
historian, Ibn Kathir, said that this hadith was not familiar to him and he was
suspicious of its authenticity.

Ibn Kathir also mentioned a different
version of the story. In this account, Abu Bakr was with the apostle of Allah in
the cave, and Abu Bakr's hand was hurt by a stone. Muhammad did not try to pray
for him or touch his hand for healing, but Abu Bakr created a one-line Arabic
poem, addressed to his finger. "You are just a finger, you are just a bleeding
finger, and this bleeding is just because of Allah." Ibn Kathir denied the story
with the snake, but he said that the story of Abu Bakr hurting his finger was
likely to be true. Despite the words of the historian, most Muslims still
believe the story about the snake.

The second example of healing comes from
a hadith narrated by Aisha, who was Muhammad's second wife. She said that
Muhammad used to pray for healing for his wives and other sick Muslims, touching
them with his right hand as he prayed.3However, Aisha is the only person who ever gave this report about Muhammad.
If Muhammad commonly prayed for sick Muslims, then other followers should have
reported it as well. There are no reports of people being healed after
Muhammad's prayers.

Even if we find an account of healing in
the hadith, it would stand directly against the teaching of the Quran, which
says that Muhammad would not perform signs. If a hadith contradicts the Quran,
the hadith must be rejected.

These comments of Aisha are usually not
preached because healing is not a subject that the imams often discuss. It's
just not a big part of Islam.

Rather than present examples of Allah
providing healing, Islamic history shows some examples of times that healing
was needed and it did not occur.

When the Muslims first came to Medina,
many of them became sick and delirious from a high fever although Muhammad did
not become sick. There is no record that he prayed for healings, but when
he saw some Muslims doing their prayers while sitting down, he told them, "Know
that the prayer of the sitter is only half as valuable as the prayer of the
stander." The historian concludes: "Thereupon the Muslims painfully struggled to
their feet despite their weakness and sickness, seeking a blessing."4

Muhammad had only two sons (Al-Kasim and
Ibrahim), and both of them died in childhood. The hadith record this account of
Ibrahim's death:

We went with Allah's
Apostle to the blacksmith Abu Saif, and he was the husband of the wet-nurse of
Ibrahim (the son of the Prophet). Allah's Apostle took Ibrahim and kissed him
and smelled him and later we entered Abu Saif's house and at that time Ibrahim
was in his lastbreaths, and the eyes of Allah's Apostle
started shedding tears. 'Abdur Rahman bin 'Auf said, "0 Allah's Apostle, even
you are weeping!" He said, "0 Ibn `Auf, this is mercy." Then he wept more and
said, "The eyes are shedding tears and the heart is grieved, and we will not say
except what pleases our Lord, 0 Ibrahim! Indeed we are grieved by your
separation."5

If Muhammad could pray for healing, I
believe he would have done so to keep his son from dying.

So the record is pretty simple: prayer
for healing was not asignificant part of Muhammad's
life. It is possible that he never prayed for healings.

Jesus

If you have read through any of the
Gospels, you will notice that accounts of physical healing make up a significant
part of the story line. Examples of healings include:

Raised his
friend Lazarus from the dead out of his grave (John 11:1-44
NIV)

Restored the
ear of the high priest's servant after Peter struck him with a sword (Luke
22:49-51 NIV)

Regarding healing, we can see some ironic
comparisons between Jesus and Muhammad. For example, Muhammad did not help his
followers who were suffering from a fever, but the Gospels specifically
mentioned Jesus healing fevers for two people---Peter's
mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31) and the official's son (John 4:48-52). Also, though
Muhammad could not save his two sons from death, Jesus raised two children from
the dead---a
ruler's daughter and a widow's son. Jesus also healed a boy who was close to
death in Capernaum just by telling his father, "Your son will live" (John 4:50
NIV).

At this point, we have established that
healings played a major role in Jesus' life and a minor, or nonexistent, role in
Muhammad's life. Now let's see
what Jesus and Muhammad taught about the purpose of healing and the causes of
sickness.

PURPOSE OF
HEALINGS AND THE CAUSES OF SICKNESSES

Muhammad

I know of no teaching from Muhammad
regarding the purpose of healing. He did, however, teach about the source of
illness. Let's look again at
the verse that I would quote to people who were sick:

And if Allah touches you with harm, there
is none who can remove it but He, and if He intends any good for you, there is
none who can repel His Favour which He causes it to reach whomsoever of His
slaves He wills.

-SURAH
10:107

Muhammad taught that sickness came from
Allah, so Muslims believe that when a person is affected by sickness, there is a
reason behind it. Maybe the sick person did something wrong or sinned against
Allah, so Allah gave him a disease to purify him from his wrongdoing.
Muslims believe this purification will put that person in a better position to
stand in front of Allah on Judgment Day.

This verse also says that Allah is the
only one who can remove the disease. This teaching frustrated me as a Muslim. I
wondered, "If you are sick and you pray to Allah for help, what do you expect?
If Allah is the one who sent the disease, how can you convince him to take it
back?"

Jesus

Jesus said that his healings and miracles
were a sign to show people that he really came from God.

When John heard in prison what Christ was
doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or
should we expect someone else?"Jesus replied, "Go back and report
to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who
have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is
preached to the poor.

-MATTHEW
11:2-5 NIV

Similarly, Jesus said to the Jews:

The Jews gathered around him, saying,
"How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you donot believe. The miracles I do in
my Father's name speak for me.

-JOHN
10:24-25 NIV

The Gospels also say Jesus was motivated
to heal out of compassion for the people's suffering.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd,
he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

-MATTHEW
14:14;

SEE ALSO MATTHEW 20:34; MARK 1:41
NIV

Jesus' compassion
for people's sickness is in character with his teaching regarding the source of
illness. We can see Jesus' pointof view through various comments
that he made while healing people. He said:

1. Illness can be
a result of sin.

Later Jesus found him [a man he healed]
at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or
something worse may happen to you."

-JOHN
5:14 NIV

2. Illness can
occur without a fault.

As he [Jesus] went along, he saw a man
blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned,"
said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his
life.

-JOHN
9:1-3 NIV

3. Illness can be
caused by demons.

Then they brought him a demon-possessed
man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and
see.

-MATTHEW 12:22;

SEE ALSO MATTHEW 9:32-34; MARK 7:31-37
NIV

Now that we've looked at physical
healing, let's look at a spiritual type of healing---casting
out demons.

CASTING OUT
DEMONS

Both Muhammad and Jesus spoke about
demons in their teachings. The
issue I want to address here is what each one did about people who came to them
for help against demons.

Muhammad

Muhammad, on the other hand, was not
known for casting out demons. In fact, the Quran says that jinn (or demons) came
to

listen to
Muhammad recite the Quran:

Say (0 Muhammad): "It has been revealed
to me that a group of (from three to ten in number) jinn listened (to this
Quran). They said: `Verily, we have heard a wonderful Recitation' (this Quran)!

-SURAH 72:1

This surah goes on to say that some of
the jinn accepted Islam and became Muslims (Surah 72:14). When Muhammad prayed,they crowded around him to listen
(Surah 72:19).

So Muhammad's relationship with demons
was much differentthan Jesus'!

However, we do have an example of a woman
coming to Muhammad and asking for help because she felt that she was being
attacked by demons.

A Muslim woman came to him and told him,
"These unclean ones---demons---possess
me and torment me and torture me." Muhammad said, "If you are patient in what
you are walking through, you will come in Resurrection Day before Allah clean
from any sin, and there will be no judgment against you. She said, "I swear in
the name of the one who sent you that I will have patience until I meet Allah,
but I am afraid that this demon will come and make me take myclothes off (in public)"[that I
will be sinning]. Then Muhammad told her, "Every time you feel the demon on you,
you must go to Al-Ka'ba and wrap yourself in the fabric that is draped over the
Black Stone." Then Muhammad prayed for her.6

Let's think about what Muhammad offered
this woman. He did not remove the demon from her. Instead he told her to endureits harassment and said that she
might get relief from going to the Black Stone at Al-Ka'ba.

Muhammad's advice to her actually
contradicts teaching in the Quran, which says:

And if an evil whisper comes to you from
Shaitan (Satan), then seek refuge with Allah. Verily, He is AllHearer, All-Knower.

-SURAH
7:200

We can conclude easily that Muhammad did
not present himself as being able to cast out demons.

Jesus

When Jesus encountered a person who was
troubled by demons, he told the demons to leave the person's body.
A good example is the story of the two crazed men Jesus encountered as they
wandered around the tombs in the region of Gadara. Theywere so violent that people were
afraid to travel that way. The demons in these men begged Jesus, "If you drive
us out, send us into the herd of pigs." Jesus said to them, "Go!" and the demons
came out of the men (Matthew
8:28-34 NIV).

In addition to these specific stories,
the Gospels often mention in general that Jesus cast out demons when the people
came to him for help (Matthew
4:24; 8:16; Mark 1:34,39
NIV). Jesus said he cast out
demons by the power of God (Luke 11:14-28
NIV).

Now let us look at one area where the
picture for Muhammad is hotly debated---miracles.

MIRACLES

Muhammad

We have already learned that Muhammad was
not known for praying for physical healing or for casting out demons. Was he
known for doing miracles?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this
chapter, this is an area of debate among Muslims. Muslims look to the Quran as
the greatest miracle. Aside from that, miracles do not play a major role in
the story line of Muhammad. In other words, miracles were not described as
drawing crowds to Muhammad. They did not have a big effect on how people
treated him or how he spread his message.

With this background, let's look at the
references to possible miracles by Muhammad.

A well-known story is the "splitting of
the moon," described in hadith as follows:

The people of Mecca asked the Prophet to
show thema sign (miracle). So he showed them (the
miracle) of the cleaving of the moon.7

The Quran makes reference to this in
Surah 54:1:

The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has
been cleft asunder.

Many Muslims believe the moon literally
split in half and appeared as two pieces in the sky. The date is thought to be
in Mecca about five years before hijra. However, no reference is made
to this miracle when Muhammad is challenged to deliver a sign. This is an
unsolved problem.

All the other examples of miracles appear
only in hadith and are not mentioned in the Quran.
These include:

Multiplying
dates to repay a debts8

Multiplying
waterfrom a drinking utensil9

and from a well10

and from two
bags of water borrowed from a woman on a camel11

Producing rain
after a drought in Medina12

Lights leading
two of Muhammad's companions through darkness13

A date palm
tree crying after Muhammad leaves14

The ground
spitting out the corpse of Christian who lied15

A wolf speaking
and inviting a man to follow Islam16

Muhammad's
Night journey in which he reported being flown from Mecca to Jerusalem and
seeing paradise and hell17

Jesus

Just as Jesus was popular because of his
healings, he was also sought after because of miracles that he performed. A good
example is when five thousand people came out to the desert tohear him teach, and they stayed so
long that they became hungry. The disciples wanted to send them away, but when
Jesus found five loaves of bread and two fish, he instructed the disciples to
serve the people a meal. The miracle is that this small amount of bread and fish
fed all the people. Later Jesus was hounded by people who remembered him
multiplying the food (John 6:1-27
NIV).

Other examples of Jesus' miracles
include:

Turning water
into wine at a wedding (John 2:1-11)

Large catches
of fish (Luke 5:1-11; John 21:1-14)

Calming the
storm as he and the disciples crossed a lake (Matthew
8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25)

Walking on
water during a storm (Matthew
14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21)

Finding money
for taxes in the mouth of a fish (Matthew
17:24-28)

Causing a fig
tree to wither (Matthew
21:18-22; Mark 11: 20-25)

Although some of the miracles were
performed in the presence of crowds (the miracle at the wedding and the
multiplication of food), the other ones were seen only by his closest followers.

So there are accounts of miracles by both
Muhammad and Jesus. What was the purpose of these miracles?

Muhammad's
purpose for miracles

Some say his miracles were a sign of
Muhammad's prophethood, but the Quran declared that the revelations to Muhammad
were the only sign that would be given. It is an issue of debate.

Jesus' purpose
for miracles

Jesus used his miracles as a sign that he
was God, particularly for his followers. For example, Jesus' first miracle was
turning water to wine at a wedding. This was an effective demonstration of power
to his new followers.

Jesus also performed miracles out of
compassion, particularly when multiplying food for a crowd.

Jesus called his disciples to him and
said, "I havecompassion for these people; they have
already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send
them away hungry, or they may collapseon the way."

-MATTHEW 15:32 NIV

HEALINGS AND
MIRACLES BY THE FOLLOWERS

The last section of this chapter will
look at whether Jesus or Muhammad taught their followers to practice healings
and miracles.

Muhammad

Muhammad did not teach his followers to
pray for healing or miracles.
There is no hadith where Muhammad said, "If one of your relatives or children
are sick, pray and ask for healing from Allah." There is no record in Islamic
history of any of Muhammad's companions doing healings or miracles. This was
not their method of spreading the message of Islam. Instead, after Muhammad's
death, they remained organized in a military fashion and continuedto
spread Islam through jihad.

Jesus

Jesus expected his followers to do the
same healings and miracles that he did and more.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has
faith in me will dowhat I have been doing. He will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

-JOHN
14:12 NIV

When Jesus sent his disciples out to
preach, he told them:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse
those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

-MATTHEW 10:8;
SEE ALSO MARK 3:15; LUKE 10:9

The question is: Were the disciples able
to heal and cast out demons like Jesus did? The answer was yes.

They went out and preached that people
should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil
and healed them.

-MARK
6:12-13 NIV

The seventy-two returned with joy and
said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.

-LUKE
10:17 NIV

The New Testament account after Jesus'
death and resurrection describes his followers performing "many wonders and
miraculous signs" (Acts 2:43; see also Romans 15:19
NIV). For example:

The people were attracted to the
disciples and their message because of the miracles and healings, just as they
were attracted Jesus.

CONCLUSION

Healing and miracles help us to see more
differences between Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus' public activity was propelled
by healing, casting out demons, and performing miracles. After his death and
resurrection, his followers also attracted the people to their message through
healing, casting out demons, and miracles.

In contrast, Islamic history records only
a few stories of miracles associated with Muhammad and almost no stories
regarding healings or casting out demons.

Since healings were the way Jesus
effectively spread his message, let us now turn to the most effective way
Muhammad spread his message---through
jihad, or holy war. [106-122]

Notes

1.
In the Quran, the word We is often used in reference to Allah. The word is used
to convey a sense of greatness, not to imply that there is more than one god.

*Dr.
Gabriel was born in Egypt. When he was five-years-old, his uncle, who was an
Imam, worked with him to memorize 2-3 verses of the Quran in classical Arabic,
almost on a daily basis. By the time he was 12 years old he memorized the
complete Quran.